Advancing Excellence

St. Joseph's has supported the residents of Onondaga County and surrounding communities for many years. In Cortland we helped develop a dialysis facility In Fulton, Oswego, Utica and Lewis County we supported home care development. In several hospitals and long term care facilities, our affiliate, Franciscan Companies helped develop sleep labs, pulmonary programs and durable medical equipment companies.

So, it is a logical next step for some of these facilities with which we have worked is to ask the question - how might we improve quality together and reduce costs of care? Recruiting physicians together, sharing in education and quality improvement practices, helping to ensure good medical care exists in communities for managing chronic conditions are just a few of the things we might pursue.

The learning travels in both directions. Recently I was at a meeting with several hospitals - some large, some small. The two most innovative ideas in the room came from smaller communities that had been innovative in addressing their communities' needs! We learn as much from them, as they from us.

That's the power of these collaborations. Regional providers know their communities, and we can support them in developing new models of community care to improve their communities' health.

The leadership of Lewis County General Hospital has asked to explore these questions with us over the next several months. It's a beautiful community that has worked hard to maintain a hospital and primary care and is a key economic engine for this region. We look forward to learning together.